2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament - Tournament Procedure

Tournament Procedure

For more details on this topic, see NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship#Tournament.

For the first time, a total of 68 teams entered the tournament. Thirty of the thirty-one automatic bids were given to the programs that won their conference tournaments, while the remaining automatic bid went to the Ivy League champion Princeton, as the conference does not hold a tournament. The remaining 37 teams will be granted "at-large" bids, which are extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. All 68 teams were announced on "Selection Sunday" March 13, 2011.

The Selection Committee ranked the entire field from 1 to 68. The last four at-large teams selected and the four lowest ranked automatic qualifiers played in a "First Four". The four winners of those games advanced to the main draw of the tournament to play a higher seed. The four lowest ranked teams of the 68 played against each other in a pair of First Four games, with winners advancing to play No. 1 seeds, and the last four at-large teams played in the other two First Four games, with the winners moving on to face the seed they would otherwise be matched up against, as determined by their seed number.

Tulsa Tucson Denver Cleveland Tampa Charlotte Chicago Washington DC 2011 First Four (orange), and second and third rounds (green) Anaheim New Orleans Newark Houston 2011 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

The following sites were selected to host each round of the 2011 tournament:

First Four

• March 15 and 16
  • University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio

Second and third rounds

• March 17 and 19
  • Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. (Host: Georgetown University)
  • McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona (Host: University of Arizona)
  • Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado (Host: Mountain West Conference)
  • Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa, Florida (Host: University of South Florida)
• March 18 and 20
  • Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio (Host: Cleveland State University)
  • Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
  • United Center, Chicago, Illinois (Host: Big Ten Conference)
  • BOK Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma (Host: University of Tulsa)

Regional sites

• March 24 and 26
  • West Regional: Honda Center, Anaheim, California (Host: Big West Conference)
  • Southeast Regional: New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana (Host: Tulane University)
• March 25 and 27
  • Southwest Regional: Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas (Host: University of Texas at San Antonio)
  • East Regional: Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey (Host: Seton Hall University)

Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four, held April 2 and 4 in Houston at Reliant Stadium, co-hosted by Rice University and the University of Houston.